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{
    "id": 1461444,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1461444/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Daniel Nanok (",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": ". These social media platforms accord Parliament a good outreach where they can interact with the public on matters legislation and representation. This is the way Parliament can then broadcast itself and get to be known what business goes on in Parliament at any time. After us interacting with experts in the departments of Broadcasting, ICT and the Media Relations of Parliament, we observed the following: That the Parliamentary Service Commission has a social media policy which was passed in 2016 and with the rapid pace of technological change, new trends in the social media sector have since emerged. The official social media channels are hosted on different sites of Parliament and, therefore, do not make access easy for the users. The YouTube channel for instance, is underutilised in terms of providing comprehensive media coverage of activities undertaken by the Members of Parliament. You will bear me witness that a lot of work done by the Members of Parliament, either in their committees or in their constituencies and counties go unnoticed. They are localised and yet there can be very good lessons that can be shared across the country if these activities were to be broadcast across the country via the social media platforms that the Parliament of Kenya hosts. The usage of the parliamentary social media channels to disseminate activities undertaken by the Members of Parliament in their respective constituencies need to be enhanced. This will give the Members of Parliament visibility right to the grassroots. These are the kinds of interactions that need to be encouraged between the Members of Parliament and the public or the people they represent, and the departments they oversee. In this manner, Members of Parliament can be said to be at work in their various areas. It is not only in the Chamber that Parliament works. To paraphrase a quote by our former Speaker, “Parliament in committees is Parliament at work.” As it is now, very few of our members, in fact our committees, get covered or are broadcast live. If broadcasting through social media platforms is introduced, it will increase the Kenyan people’s interest in understanding what their Members of Parliament are doing in their committees, constituencies and counties. It will show the amount of work Members of Parliament are engaged in as they serve their constituents. Publishing Hon. Members information or content on Parliamentary social media platforms will require proper mechanism for authentication and verification of information sources to ensure credibility and accuracy of information. That is very true. There are 47 counties where our Woman Representatives and our Senators work from, and 290 constituencies. That is a huge constituency and if we have to reach out to the grassroots, then we have to establish points of contact and focal points in the various constituencies and counties so that information generated from the constituencies and the counties can be shared in a manner that is organised and relevant for promoting the work of Parliament and the image of the Members of Parliament. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we need to be innovative as the Parliament of Kenya. Kenyans want to interact with this Parliament. The unfortunate thing that happened to us in June when this Chamber was stormed had everything to do with public participation, where the public feels that they have not been listened to effectively by their representatives. If this Motion is adopted in this House, I believe it will kick-start a process of reaching the lowest point of representation, which is the constituency for Members of Parliament, in terms of information about parliamentary business, information about the work of the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}